Wednesday, July 17, 2013

1:31 PM

The U.S. Department of Justice's principal deputy assistant attorney general for legislative affairs writes in a letter to U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner that the National Security Agency's controversial surveillance of phone records satisfies the provisions of the Patriot Act.

Sensenbrenner, R-Menomonee Falls and the author of the 2001 law, sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder in the aftermath of media reports on the NSA policy last month, arguing that the phone record surveillance was not "consistent with the requirements of the Patriot Act."

Peter J. Kadzik disputed that claim in a letter dated Tuesday, writing that the program meets all necessary requirements of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and of the constitution.

"As noted above, by order of the FISC, the Government is prohibited from indiscriminately sifting through the telephony metadata it acquires," Kadzik writes. "Instead, all information that is acquired is subject to strict, court-imposed restrictions on review and handling that provide significant and reasonable safeguards for U.S. persons."

Sensenbrenner disclosed the Justice Department's response today at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Obama administration's authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.